UPDATED: Houston tops country for NFL Draft ratings on TV

In keeping with the Texans’ position atop the NFL Draft board, Houston had the highest television ratings in the country Thursday night for first-round draft coverage on ESPN and NFL Network.

The two channels combined for a 15.3 Nielsen rating in Houston for an average audience of 350,272 of the area’s 2.2 million TV households as the Texans led off the draft by selecting defensive end Jadeveon Clowney of South Carolina. Three Texas A&M players went during the first round, including Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Johnny Manziel to Cleveland, to boost the local audience.

ESPN (6.11) and NFL Network (1.46) combined for an 7.57 national Nielsen rating, up 50 percent from 5.06 last year, and had an average audience of 12.4 million viewers (9.9 million on ESPN, 2.4-plus million on NFL Network), which was 60 percent higher than the old record of 8.3 million in 2010, which featured the Tim Tebow draft drama.

Nielsen estimates that 32 million viewers watched at least a minute of Thursday’s first round, breaking the record of 29.9 million in 2010. Since the NFL moved in 2009 to the three-day primetime format, ratings for the first round have grown by 78 percent and viewership by 98 percent.

Viewership peaked between 8:45 and 9 p.m., when the Cowboys passed on Manziel and selected Zack Martin of Notre Dame, with a 9.08 rating and 15 million viewers.

Greenville, S.C., ranked second to Houston among the 56 major markets with a 14.09 rating. Austin ranked fourth at 12.97, San Antonio was seventh at 12.15 and Dallas-Fort Worth was 19th at 9.8.